Well, as you know I love some Anthropology creativeness.  A few months ago, I was enjoying a look/see in our local Anthropologie store.  Their creations never cease to WOW!    And yes, please, I want one of e.v.e.r.t.h.i.n.g!   But... as much as I love their dreamy products, I have so much fun checking out their window fronts and other displays.   I will go so far to say that in my next life, that is my dream job! 

I was inspired by their fabric cactus.  Here is my small effort!

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After washing my dropcloth I watered down some Leaf Green Acrylic and painted it.  Added a few other green paints with dry brush to give it a little more depth.

Made a pattern out of an old cereal box.  Folded the fabric over (painted sides facing) and traced the pattern with chalk.  Cut it out - ending up with 2 pieces.

stitched them together with right sides facing out.  Sort of the opposite of what you would normally do.......

a little gesso on some peat pots.  (Any of you that have followed this far - well thanks for being here!  You are so special and I hope you will leave a comment so I can follow you too - if I'm not already following you!)

Okay - back to the next step.......I've had this project stuck in my head ever since I saw the fabric cacti all over our Anthropologie store.  How to put this all together?  I decided to reuse paper grocery bags.  Cut it into strips, crush them up and use them to support my fabric cactus. 

Cute - but I also tried topping it off with some pebble stones leftover from another project

Love it either way!   

Thanks so much for being here!!

New (Trouble with Trouble) drop cloth pillow!

Finally finished my newest pillow with one of my favorite quotes!   

This pillow is made of drop cloth that I pre-washed   Then created a mirror print on our laser printer at the office.  (You can do this by going to Advanced Properties with most laser printers.)   I do have one stubborn one at the office that won't let me do this.  Grrrr  If your printer doesn't let you mirror the image there are a few other options.  Let me know - I would love to help if I can.

Taped it to the center of pillow and dabbed some Citra Solv with a cotton ball.  If you don't already know the drill check out this tutorial from Lil Boo Blue.  Or Google for many more :)  It's a great technique but, I found that putting the Citra Solv (CS) on the print in a small area, rubbing hard with the back and side of the spoon, check to see if it worked then, move to the next few words rubbing lightly with the CitraSolv cotton ball as you go worked best for me.  It gives the print a nice worn look.  

And, you know it is so true..........trouble does start out as fun :)

Geeking up some coasters and helping reduce e-waste!

I never knew - never had a CLUE what wonderful equipment was sitting right under my nose at our family manufacturing plant until I started blogging in November 2010.  All sorts of saws, metal equipment painting booth silk screening area and so much more.   Plus vintage metal desks and chairs (like my Red Rooster Drafting stool) and shelving just screaming for new life in gorgeous colors!  (Oh, how I wish there were more hours in my day!)
For a quick indoor project (yes, we are also having record highs in the 100s and Code Orange air all week like so many of you)  I grabbed some old circuit boards and glued some thin cork on the bottom. These are 3-3/4" x 3-3/8" in size. 

Turned them over and coated them with acrylic sealer to waterproof them, then tied them up with some twine laying around.  This is a gift for one of my sweet geeky friends!

And just in case you didn't already know, e-waste (electronic waste) is a very fast growing waste problem for the earth   (But, I bet you already knew that!)  We have hundreds of obsolete circuit boards at our company alone.  So, look for more circuit board projects, both large and small, to be posted soon!  

Happy rest of the weekend!

Clear Chalkboard Paint

It's no secret that I LOVE using chalkboard paint whenever I can.  So, a few months ago I wondered if you could add calcium or un-sanded grout to something like clear polyacrylic sealer and use it over regular paint to create a chalkboard.  Well, it only took me several months to get back to that idea. 

 I started with what I already had - some Polycrylic and powdered calcium 

 The "guinea pig" for this project was a tray I bought at Goodwill and sprayed with some leftover Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze paint.  Still playing around with the ratios - I started with the same ratio as if I were using regular paint but it was way too thin.  I kept adding calcium powder to thicken it up.  So far, I'm pleased with the project.  I'll share the final ratio soon - It's looking like 1 part calcium powder to 3 parts poly is best.   
(And LOL - I don't mean to try to get all scientific here)